Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: heather

  • Urra Moor

    Urra Moor

    A drab misty start to the week with rain threatening. The boundary stones across Urra Moor probably mark the limit of the Feversham estate. Bilsdale below is only just visible.

  • White Gill

    White Gill

    In the Tabular Hills, limestone country in the southern half of the North York Moors and a view west over the Vale of Mowbray to the Yorkshire Dales, supposedly one of the “finest views in all of England”.  White Gill, the stream at the bottom of a deep valley with no name, and downstream, the village of Kepwick.…

  • Great Ayton Moor

    Great Ayton Moor

    There’s an old adage that is said in all farming communities, from Scotland, to Wales and to Cumbria: Where there’s bracken there’s gold; where there’s gorse there’s silver; where there’s heather there’s poverty At first it’s hard to see the reasoning. Bracken is allelopathic, it produces toxins in the soil which prevents other plants from germinating. Hardly…

  • Highcliff Nab

    Highcliff Nab

    The heather is just about past its sell by date. A view east from Percy Rigg towards Highcliffe or Codhill Farm and Highcliff Nab.

  • Capt.Cook's Monument

    Capt.Cook's Monument

    I recently read an article which suggests a Masonic connection to the obelisk and with the great man himself. Apparently obelisks symbolize the Egyptian sun god Amon Re and its cap  or ‘benben’ is actually a pyramid. Now a pyramid forms the basis of the Freemasonry symbol The Eye of Providence, a symbol which can be seen on the reverse of the Great…

  • Westerdale

    Westerdale

    Better known as the name of the village, on the ridge on the right of the photo, but this upper part of the River Esk is mapped as Westerdale. The ling or heather is in full bloom. From John Breckon Road.

  • Derwentwater

    Derwentwater

    A classic Lakeland view. Derwentwater from Walla Crag. Keswick on the right, Lake Bassenthwaite in the distance. And in the foreground, following on from last weeks’s posting, Ling is in flower alongside the darker Bell Heather.

  • Bell Heather

    Bell Heather

    One of three types of heather found in the UK, the others being Cross Leaved Heather and the very common Ling. Bell Heather, or Erica cinerea to give it its Latin name, flowers much earlier than Ling and a much richer colour. It favours drier conditions like cling to this sandstone crag in and old quarry on Great…

  • Sunshine and Grey Skies

    Sunshine and Grey Skies

    An ugly scar across the heather moor of Carlton Moor, the yellow sandstone of the track accentuated by the threatening skies. The track is typical of estate roads all over the North York Moors providing easy access for the shooting parties. This track though was probably built by the glider station which used to operate on Carlton…

  • Castleton Rigg

    Castleton Rigg

    I heard yesterday that a new sculpture is being planned to be erected on Castleton Rigg over looking Westerdale. I just had to have a look at the place so I made that my mission for the day. Castleton Rigg is a long finger of prime grouse moorland separating Westerdale with Danby Dale. It is not walked…